Took a good friend out for a stalk.......

[Guest martin]

I arranged for a good friend of mine(foxdropper)to come over for a stalk,and,then later on a bit of a lamp.I took him to a 60-70acre field that I have just got passed for centrefire,where I had seen a Buck hanging around.I had a feeling that he would be above a small copse at one end of the field,so we headed that way.As we neared where I was expecting to see him,it was obvious that he must be elsewhere,so,I got my friend to set up on the corner of the copse,which looks down across the rest of the field,which slopes down to a thick hedgeline.Meanwhile,I set off around the topside of the field to see if I could push the Buck(assuming he was there at all)towards where my friend was set up.As I walked across the top hedgeline,I realised I was being watched by an awesome Buck,that had stopped chewing,and,just stood there with two strands of grass hanging limp from his lips.I wasn't sure which way he might go,and,how best to get him to go where I wanted him to,anyway,I just slowly started to move to my left and towards him.The Buck(which wasn't the one that I had seen earlier in the week)jump around and bounded off towards the bottom hedgeline,but,also to the left,and,that would take him away from where foxdropper was.I started to run down the hill and over the brow,and,it was OK as he had turned right after he had gone out of sight,and,was now starting to follow the original script.He did try however to get over the fence in an overgrown corner,but,he couldn't make it over easily so he thought that he would be Ok just getting further away fom me,as he carried on along the bottom hedgeline,he stopped all of a sudden,and,there was the welcome sound of a Tikka T3 .243cal,and,the Buck dropped like a stone.When I got up to foxdropper and his prize he was actually shaking with excitement,and,as I got a proper look at the head on the Buck,I realised why.It is the tallest head I have seen by quite a long way at 10 1/2" and with a spread of 8 1/4".What a start to an evening.FD gralloched the Buck,and,we had the obligatory handshake,and,congratulations,then we took the Buck back to the truck,and,we went on to the next door farm for a lamp about because it was getting dark by now.We shone about for a while,and,then gave a few squeeks,and,a cub sneaked right up on us,it then disappeared through a hedge only to come straight out into the open,and,one little squeek stopped it in it's tracks and the 100gr winchester stopped it forever.We did carry on for a few more fields,and,we did see a Muntjac in the lamp,so,I will be after him later on,and,a lot of rabbits for the ferreting season,but,no more foxes,and,after going to another 70 acre field that has just been cut,and being followed on by a range rover lamping foxes off the field so they can be dug to later in the year we called it a night.I do hope that the gang of 3 in the 'RR' don't think that they will get all of the foxes off that field though,because I will be putting in a concerted effort to gazump them,mainly because in my mind if someone is already on the land,then no-one else should come on as well...............don't get angry.....get even,that is my motto.....Martin.

A couple of pics of the night,and,the head being done................

this is the head with the knife I have just had made..........

The knife was made by a chap on 'Moochers' and it is great.

here is the head being cooked and afterwards....................

here's the cub.................

By the way,I weighed the head tonight and it went 555grammes,just to give people in the know just how big it was..............Martin.

[6mmBR]

Thanks Martin for the write up. It's always great when it comes together when you organise something for a mate and a super roe buck to boot.

Well done.

Cheers

Dave

[Guest martin]

It is a relief when it comes together like you say,and,we usually take it in turns to invite the other onto our land,and,it makes for a good day mostly,but,most importantly,there is always good company.........Martin.

[foxshot]

Very nice result for you Martin,and even better for foxdropper not suprised he was shaking thats one fine buck,must have gave you great satisfaction when your plan worked out